Guess Who's coming to play?

Rock band The Who is set to play in Australia for the first time since its ill-fated 1968 tour.

The promoter, Michael Chugg Entertainment, has placed posters around Melbourne with the question "Who's Touring?" alongside the band's target logo. But Chugg said the tour had still to be confirmed.

"Who was arrested at Melbourne Airport 35 years ago? Who vowed never to return to Australia again? Don't be the last to know who's touring," the band's website reads.

The band has booked dates in Japan in July and The Age understands it will perform in Melbourne's Vodafone Arena on July 31 and the Sydney Entertainment Centre on July 28. Tickets go on sale on April 19.

Australian rock band You Am I claims on its website that it will be supporting The Who, who's previous visit to Australia was in 1968 when it appeared with The Small Faces as part of The Big Show.

On 29 January that year, The Age reported that the pilot of an Ansett-ANA aircraft asked police to escort 19 members of the party off the plane, complaining that they brought beer on board, were moving around, and used "very bad language".

After giving assurances there would be no misbehaviour, the band flew to Sydney and on to Auckland, New Zealand. It denied causing any trouble and said it was unaware that beer could not be taken on board aircraft in Australia.

Newly elected prime minister John Gorton reportedly sent them a telegram asking them never to return to Australia.

Pete Townshend ran into trouble last year when arrested in Britain for downloading child pornography from the web. Townshend said he was using it for research. Charges were dropped, but he stays on a UK sex offenders register for five years.

Despite the death of drummer Keith Moon in 1978, the band has toured on and off. Singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist Townshend have continued to play under The Who name. The band's bassist John Entwistle died from a cocaine-related heart attack last year.

The band almost made it here in 1995, with Zak Starkey on drums and Townshend's son Simon on guitar. But fans thought this was not authentic enough, and the tour was cancelled after poor ticket sales.

The closest fans have got to the band recently was when Roger Daltrey played a few of the band's hits at the Ultimate Rock Symphony at Telstra Dome in 2000.